1 1 00:00:00,300 --> 00:00:01,990 Password security. 2 2 00:00:01,990 --> 00:00:03,590 In this lesson, we're going to discuss 3 3 00:00:03,590 --> 00:00:06,350 some of the best practices that affect our password security 4 4 00:00:06,350 --> 00:00:09,060 in our networks and devices, in general, 5 5 00:00:09,060 --> 00:00:11,160 the strength of our passwords and the level of security 6 6 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:13,573 is going to be defined in our password policies. 7 7 00:00:14,411 --> 00:00:16,150 A password policy is simply a policy document 8 8 00:00:16,150 --> 00:00:17,530 that promotes strong passwords 9 9 00:00:17,530 --> 00:00:19,600 by specifying a minimum password length, 10 10 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:21,100 requiring complex passwords, 11 11 00:00:21,100 --> 00:00:22,740 requiring periodic password changes 12 12 00:00:22,740 --> 00:00:25,470 and placing limits on the reuse of passwords. 13 13 00:00:25,470 --> 00:00:27,270 Password policies are used to mitigate 14 14 00:00:27,270 --> 00:00:28,670 against the risk of an attacker, 15 15 00:00:28,670 --> 00:00:30,560 being able to compromise a user, 16 16 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:32,250 administrator or service account 17 17 00:00:32,250 --> 00:00:35,420 on a given network device server or workstation. 18 18 00:00:35,420 --> 00:00:38,000 Utilizing two factor authentication is always going to be 19 19 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:40,670 a lot more secure than using just a password, 20 20 00:00:40,670 --> 00:00:42,690 which is considered a knowledge factor. 21 21 00:00:42,690 --> 00:00:45,980 But many of our network devices may only support a username 22 22 00:00:45,980 --> 00:00:48,040 and password for their authentication. 23 23 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:50,100 If this is the case, then you need to make sure 24 24 00:00:50,100 --> 00:00:52,830 you're at least using a good, strong password. 25 25 00:00:52,830 --> 00:00:55,010 Now, a strong password is defined as one 26 26 00:00:55,010 --> 00:00:57,781 who's complexity and length are sufficient 27 27 00:00:57,781 --> 00:00:59,390 to create a large amount of possible combinations 28 28 00:00:59,390 --> 00:01:01,830 so that brute force attacks can not be completed 29 29 00:01:01,830 --> 00:01:03,650 in a reasonable amount of time. 30 30 00:01:03,650 --> 00:01:04,820 Now, there is some debate 31 31 00:01:04,820 --> 00:01:08,021 amongst cybersecurity professionals as to whether or not 32 32 00:01:08,021 --> 00:01:10,230 you should use a long password or a complex password. 33 33 00:01:10,230 --> 00:01:11,640 Traditionally, you may have heard 34 34 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:13,480 cyber security professionals promoting the fact 35 35 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:15,630 that you need to use a complex password. 36 36 00:01:15,630 --> 00:01:17,380 Something that includes uppercase letters, 37 37 00:01:17,380 --> 00:01:19,720 lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters 38 38 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:23,110 or symbols in order to have a strong and complex password. 39 39 00:01:23,110 --> 00:01:24,930 But there is a big vulnerability 40 40 00:01:24,930 --> 00:01:26,570 with using a complex password 41 41 00:01:26,570 --> 00:01:29,380 and that's most people have trouble remembering them. 42 42 00:01:29,380 --> 00:01:32,180 So people being people will tend to write down 43 43 00:01:32,180 --> 00:01:34,590 these long passwords and reuse the same password 44 44 00:01:34,590 --> 00:01:36,760 across multiple devices or websites. 45 45 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:39,420 This reduces the security of these complex passwords 46 46 00:01:39,420 --> 00:01:41,340 and leads to them being compromised. 47 47 00:01:41,340 --> 00:01:43,310 So as of the latest guidance 48 48 00:01:43,310 --> 00:01:46,370 from the NIST special publication, 800-63B, 49 49 00:01:46,370 --> 00:01:49,090 be known as the digital identity guidelines, 50 50 00:01:49,090 --> 00:01:51,410 it recommends the password complexity rules 51 51 00:01:51,410 --> 00:01:53,280 should no longer be enforced. 52 52 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:55,880 Instead, this special publication from NIST 53 53 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,070 recommends that you should use a long password 54 54 00:01:58,070 --> 00:02:00,420 of up to 64 ASCII characters, 55 55 00:02:00,420 --> 00:02:02,980 even if you're only using uppercase and lowercase letters. 56 56 00:02:02,980 --> 00:02:05,740 This long password has a sufficient key space 57 57 00:02:05,740 --> 00:02:08,760 to make brute forcing the password much more difficult. 58 58 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:09,710 If you had some numbers 59 59 00:02:09,710 --> 00:02:11,240 and special characters to it as well, 60 60 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:13,881 while still making it something you can remember, 61 61 00:02:13,881 --> 00:02:15,060 you're adding additional complexity to it too. 62 62 00:02:15,060 --> 00:02:17,220 And this makes it even stronger though. 63 63 00:02:17,220 --> 00:02:19,470 But again, if you have just a really long string 64 64 00:02:19,470 --> 00:02:20,480 that doesn't have anything in it, 65 65 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:21,950 that's being repetitive in nature. 66 66 00:02:21,950 --> 00:02:24,170 The longer password can be just as secure 67 67 00:02:24,170 --> 00:02:26,610 as an eight character complex password. 68 68 00:02:26,610 --> 00:02:28,870 Now, another common set of password policy guidance 69 69 00:02:28,870 --> 00:02:30,530 that was previously followed closely 70 70 00:02:30,530 --> 00:02:32,510 was in terms of password aging. 71 71 00:02:32,510 --> 00:02:34,610 Now essentially, the old guidance recommended 72 72 00:02:34,610 --> 00:02:37,140 that you should change your password every 60 days, 73 73 00:02:37,140 --> 00:02:38,850 but under the new guidance from NIST, 74 74 00:02:38,850 --> 00:02:40,560 they claim that password aging policies 75 75 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:42,240 should no longer be enforced. 76 76 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:44,310 Again, this goes back to the same problem 77 77 00:02:44,310 --> 00:02:46,510 we had with long and complex passwords. 78 78 00:02:46,510 --> 00:02:49,085 If you have some long, complex password, 79 79 00:02:49,085 --> 00:02:50,270 and you have to change it every 60 days, 80 80 00:02:50,270 --> 00:02:51,390 you're not going to remember it. 81 81 00:02:51,390 --> 00:02:52,960 So you're just going to write it down. 82 82 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,730 So again, they recommend allowing longer periods of time 83 83 00:02:55,730 --> 00:02:57,400 in-between password changes, 84 84 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:00,620 or even not requiring you to change your password at all 85 85 00:03:00,620 --> 00:03:02,750 if they're long enough and strong. 86 86 00:03:02,750 --> 00:03:04,400 Speaking of changing your password, 87 87 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:05,820 there's another policy out there 88 88 00:03:05,820 --> 00:03:07,780 that's often enforced in organizations. 89 89 00:03:07,780 --> 00:03:11,340 This policy requires that users cannot reuse an old password 90 90 00:03:11,340 --> 00:03:13,150 when they change their current password. 91 91 00:03:13,150 --> 00:03:14,700 Sometimes this setting is created 92 92 00:03:14,700 --> 00:03:16,610 so the password history can't be reused 93 93 00:03:16,610 --> 00:03:18,520 within the last five password changes, 94 94 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:20,910 while others may make it so you can't use a password 95 95 00:03:20,910 --> 00:03:23,430 that you've used within the last 25 times, 96 96 00:03:23,430 --> 00:03:26,440 either way is a way to increase the password history length 97 97 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:29,540 and make it so you can't reuse old passwords again. 98 98 00:03:29,540 --> 00:03:32,040 Another best practice in terms of password security 99 99 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:33,300 is that you need to ensure 100 100 00:03:33,300 --> 00:03:35,730 that you're following that all default passwords 101 101 00:03:35,730 --> 00:03:38,250 are being changed on network devices, servers, 102 102 00:03:38,250 --> 00:03:40,300 workstations, and service accounts. 103 103 00:03:40,300 --> 00:03:42,870 By default, when you install a new device like a router, 104 104 00:03:42,870 --> 00:03:45,020 a switch, or a firewall, or an access point, 105 105 00:03:45,020 --> 00:03:46,790 they're usually going to have a default username 106 106 00:03:46,790 --> 00:03:49,140 and password that's set up by the manufacturer. 107 107 00:03:49,140 --> 00:03:50,760 This allows you to log in the first time 108 108 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:52,090 and be able to make changes. 109 109 00:03:52,090 --> 00:03:54,030 For example, if you buy your internet service 110 110 00:03:54,030 --> 00:03:55,970 from Verizon Fios, they're going to come 111 111 00:03:55,970 --> 00:03:58,370 to your home or office and give you a default gateway, 112 112 00:03:58,370 --> 00:04:01,030 this router device, their gateway is going to use 113 113 00:04:01,030 --> 00:04:03,282 the username of admin and the password of admin 114 114 00:04:03,282 --> 00:04:05,410 as their default setting. 115 115 00:04:05,410 --> 00:04:07,820 So if you just install this as your new border router 116 116 00:04:07,820 --> 00:04:09,280 or gateway, and you didn't change 117 117 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:11,970 the default username and password from admin admin, 118 118 00:04:11,970 --> 00:04:14,800 anyone can simply log into the device and gain full control 119 119 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:16,920 over the device and control all the things 120 120 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:18,340 that are entering or leaving your network 121 121 00:04:18,340 --> 00:04:19,670 through that device. 122 122 00:04:19,670 --> 00:04:21,770 This is obviously not a good thing for security 123 123 00:04:21,770 --> 00:04:23,870 and makes for a really weak network. 124 124 00:04:23,870 --> 00:04:26,120 Now, if you're using Cisco devices in your network, 125 125 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:28,040 they come with default usernames and passwords 126 126 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,700 enabled by default as well, depending on the model, 127 127 00:04:30,700 --> 00:04:32,640 it's either going to be something like admin and admin 128 128 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,190 or Cisco and Cisco or something like that. 129 129 00:04:35,190 --> 00:04:37,450 To figure it out, you can just Google it and say, 130 130 00:04:37,450 --> 00:04:39,470 this is my model number, what's the default password? 131 131 00:04:39,470 --> 00:04:40,940 And you'll find it really quickly. 132 132 00:04:40,940 --> 00:04:42,440 Now your servers and workstations 133 133 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:45,670 also do something very similar, with Windows for example, 134 134 00:04:45,670 --> 00:04:46,790 there's an administrator account 135 135 00:04:46,790 --> 00:04:49,280 that's created by default and up until recently, 136 136 00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:52,110 the default password for this account was set as blank, 137 137 00:04:52,110 --> 00:04:54,120 meaning it didn't even have a password. 138 138 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:55,850 This is completely insecure. 139 139 00:04:55,850 --> 00:04:57,560 So you want to make sure you're always checking 140 140 00:04:57,560 --> 00:04:58,840 these default accounts. 141 141 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:01,560 Remember, it's important to set up your password policies 142 142 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:04,420 to require users to have a long, strong password, 143 143 00:05:04,420 --> 00:05:06,260 but it's also important that you change 144 144 00:05:06,260 --> 00:05:08,300 that default password for any devices, 145 145 00:05:08,300 --> 00:05:09,550 as soon as you install them 146 146 00:05:09,550 --> 00:05:11,200 and connect them to your network.